4. That which the prophet Ezekiel had attempted in his proposed constitution(1106) was accomplished in a far more thorough manner by the Holiness Code, which emanated from his school and became the central portion of the Mosaic books, and by the so-called Priestly Code, which followed later. The object was to bring about the sanctification of the entire people upon the holy soil of the national land, through institutions embodying the ideal of the holiness of God in the life and cult of the people. Circumcision, idealized by the prophetic author of Deuteronomy,(1107) was to be made the sign of the covenant to mark as holy the progeny of Abraham;(1108) strict laws of marriage were to put an end to all heathenish unchastity; the Sabbath rest was to consecrate the labors of the week, the Sabbatical month and year the produce of the soil.(1109) The prohibition of unclean foods, heretofore reserved, as among other nations, for the priests and other consecrated persons, was now applied to the whole community in order that Israel should learn “to set itself apart from all other nations as a holy people.”(1110) Even their apparel was to proclaim the priestly holiness of the people by a blue fringe at the border of the garments.(1111) Whereas from the time of Ezra to Simon the Just priestly rulers endeavored to promote the work of educating the people for holiness, the pious men from among the people made still greater efforts to assert the claim of holiness for the entire Jewish people as a priest-nation.(1112) The repasts of these pious fellowships should be in no way inferior in sanctity to those of the priests in the Temple. New ceremonies of sanctification were to open and close the Sabbaths and festivals. Symbols of priestly consecration should adorn forehead and arm in the form of the phylacteries (_tefillin_), and should be placed at the entrance of every house in the so-called _mezuzzah_. “God has given unto all an heritage (the Torah), the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sanctuary”(1113)—this became the _leitmotif_ for the Pharisaic school, who constantly enlarged the domain of piety so that it should include the whole of life. Whoever did not belong to this circle of the pious was regarded with scorn as one of the lower class (_am ha-aretz_).